VICTORIA - The B.C. government exercised poor judgment in its handling of a privacy breach case involving former government employees accused of misusing the private information of welfare recipients, says a review of the case released Friday.
Two government public servants were fired last year after personal information of about 1,400 welfare recipients was found at the home of a former government employee under investigation by the RCMP's commercial crime unit and the Insurance Corp. of B.C. on an unrelated matter.
The leaks are the subject of ongoing criminal investigations, but no charges have been laid. The RCMP has said it believes none of the information obtained by the former employee was used for fraud or identity theft.
But the RCMP said its investigation involves fraud linked to fake drivers' licences and allegations about false pretences involving how the employee represented himself to his employers.
The review said police found nine different types of documents at the employee's home, amounting to 408 pages. Much of the material was from the former Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance and dated from December 2006 to March 2007.
The remainder of the documents dated from March 2007 and September 2008 and were connected to the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the employment ministry.
The male employee worked in the Ministry of Children and Family Development. He was fired in October 2009, seven months after he was first arrested at work by the RCMP and Victoria Police.
The review states the man was first hired by the government in 1993 as a financial assistance worker, but dismissed in 2003. It does not say why he was fired.
But it states he was convicted in 2005 in Kamloops of theft, unauthorized use of credit card data and using and passing counterfeit money.
He was rehired by the government in 2006 after submitting a criminal record check form to the RCMP.
His wife was suspended without pay last October and fired in November 2009 about three weeks after her husband was fired.
The report states the wife was fired because she did not tell her government employer the police had investigated and arrested her husband.
The review conducted by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General found several examples of poor judgment by government officials.
"No one, other than the employee, acted in bad faith, but there were a number of examples of poor judgment by government officials which worked against a timely and effective response," said the review.
The review made six recommendations, including urging the public service to review its policies on criminal records checks.
It called for tougher background checks on employees -- the fired male employee had a prior theft and fraud-related criminal record when hired by the government.
It also called for improved manager training to ensure managers are aware of their roles and duties.
Allan Seckel, Premier Gordon Campbell's deputy minister, issued a scathing rebuke of the practices of the public service, which he heads.
He said he promised stronger policies regarding government information and human resource management will be in place within 90 days.
Seckel said the response or lack of response by government officials in authority were inadequate. But, due to the overall poor response, or non-response by everybody, he could not point blame at any one person.
"Given these facts, I am not recommending any direct termination of employees following these findings," Seckel said in a statement.
"The judgment exercised in the many decisions made as event unfolded fell short of due diligence that is expected of the public service."
A separate review of another case involving a government employee and the misuse of government emails has been referred to the police for further investigation, said the government.
